April Gardening
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T.S. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruellest month.” In the midst of flu season and the occasional snowstorm, April can indeed seem cruel. But gardeners never lose hope. It lies in the heat of the sun and the smell of soil. April entices us into the garden.
- House plants will begin to actively grow as the sunlight strengthens and lengthens. It’s a good time to start feeding them on a monthly basis – or weakly weekly. They also might enjoy a repotting. Check their roots to see if they are crowding the pot. If the roots are circling the bottom of the pot, they definitely need to be replanted into a bigger pot.
- I cut back the poinsettia combo that Kelly gave me before Christmas –a pink plant, a white one and a gorgeous red one. I watered the three in the pot and put the drastically pruned plants under lights. Now I’ll watch the progress. The first plant to put up new growth will be the one I repot and grow on for next fall.
- Those veggie seeds I plan to start indoors need to be sown by the second week of April to be ready to plant out in late May. Our last frost date here in Barrie is May 26. Seeding six to eight weeks before they can be hardened off and set outside is a good rule of thumb.
- On a nice sunny day sometime in April, I will tackle the garden shed. There are things to get rid of and things to sort, and things that didn’t get cleaned last fall. All the little tools should be checked and made ready for May work. The spade needs to be sharpened and also my trowels -- the better to dig with, my dear. What I neglected last fall will have to be done this spring!
- As soon as the soil has thawed, I have some perennials to lift and divide, and it’s almost time to start some lettuce.
- I’ll try to get some gardening help this year – one person for a morning every other week. He/she will work mainly on the front fighting creeping companula and suckers from the crab apple tree. One big job will be to renovate the boulevard garden and make it a once-a-year maintenance project by eliminating plants that need lots of care. The space will become a wild garden for insects to use.
- If I can find a source for corn gluten meal, I’ll add it to the bit of grass on Kirk’s side of the boulevard for a quick nitrogen boost. And I’ll remember to resist the temptation to sow grass seed for a least 6 weeks after applying corn gluten. Corn gluten inhibits the germination of seeds – a good thing for preventing weed seeds or seeds from the Manitoba maple on the boulevard from germinating, but a bad thing for grass seed
- I and my helper will tidy up the front and clean up the branches that came down during the winter. I’m 81 and find many things that I used to do impossible now so will appreciate a helper with a strong back.
- The raised beds in the back yard should thaw quickly with a few warm days, and I can start preparing vegetable beds as soon as the soil can be worked. I won’t jump the gun, though, and work soil before it dries out a bit. Working wet soil absolutely ruins the texture of the soil.
- And on nice mornings, I plan to walk in the garden to see what has popped up overnight. I’ll look for Corydalis ‘George Baker’ and for signs of trilliums, for the flat leaves of daffodils and the early growth on the honeysuckle, for the big leaves of colchicums and the small leaves of Lesser Celandine Hurray – It’s April!
Hardy little tulips poke their heads out on the sunny side of the house, but those planted away from the sun are watching the weather. You can gauge how close spring is by the Trilliums. They may poke a nose or two out if you look closely but never really come up until spring is certain. Native plants know how cruel April can be.
April, the beginning of our outdoor gardening year, comes with many things to do. Here are some of the things you might do this month.
